German SPD leader Martin Schulz seeks 'United States of Europe' by 2025

German SPD leader Martin Schulz seeks 'United States of Europe' by 2025

Our Foreign Staff
7 DECEMBER 2017 • 12:39PM

The head of Germany's Social Democrats, Martin Schulz, a potential future governing partner of Chancellor Angela Merkel, called Thursday for the creation of a "United States of Europe" by 2025.

Schulz delivered a passionate plea for a more united and federal Europe at an SPD party congress that was due to decide whether his centre-left party will enter exploratory talks to form a new coalition government with Merkel.

"I want a European constitutional treaty that creates a federal Europe", said Schulz, the former European parliament president, proposing a written convention involving civil society and citizens. (...)

In a keynote speech, the Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) demanded a turnaround in German foreign policy, towards more independence from the USA, and more European independence. Gabriel said in a keynote address at the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum of the Körber Foundation, a high-level meeting of foreign policy and foreign policy experts in Berlin, that the US is no longer a reliable guarantor of the world order.

The United States under Donald Trump saw Germany not only as a partner, but also as a "competitor, sometimes even as an economic opponent". The attitude of the current American government towards Europe is "very distant". It is therefore necessary for Europe to define and pursue its own interests. "This includes finding a new relationship with the US." Gabriel went on to say: "There is no longer any space on the sidelines of foreign policy, either for us Germans or for Europe."

The foreign minister identified two main points in which the interests of Europe and the interests of the United States are currently falling apart in particular: First, the sanctions against Russia passed by the US, which could have consequences for German and European companies, which are in favor of Russian Pipeline projects, including the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, due to be built by 2019. "That endangers our own economic interests," said Gabriel.

Second point of conflict between the USA and Germany is recognizing Jerusalem as the Israel's capital and putting sanctions on Iran.

Gabriel emphasized that Europe had to pursue an independent Russia policy, which was designed for dialogue and integration. Deterioration of European-Russian relations is a fault of the USA and its warmongering policy.